Rising temperatures in Niger may encourage disease spread, Expert warns

As residents of Niger State battle the heatwave which has been raving in Nigeria for nearly a month now, the Chairman, Medical and Dental Council Association in the state, Dr. Wey George Danlami has warned that the rising temperatures may encourage the spread of diseases.

Heatwaves otherwise known as hot weather are characterised by long periods of extreme heat usually accompanied by high humidity.

Global temperatures and the frequency and intensity of heatwaves will rise in the 21st century as a result of climate change, the World Health Organisation (WHO), estimates.

High air temperatures can affect human health and lead to additional deaths.  

These rising temperatures may also cause physiological stress on the human body, leading to an increase in deaths from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus and renal disease.

“Heatwaves can acutely impact large populations for short periods, often trigger public health emergencies, and result in excess mortality, and cascading socioeconomic impacts (e.g. lost work capacity and labour productivity).

“They can also cause loss of health service delivery capacity, where power shortages which often accompany heatwaves disrupt health facilities, transport, and water infrastructure,” the WHO said.

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The expert, a specialist/ General Practitioner in an interview with ASHENEWS warned that this period can easily become a breeding time for diseases.

Dr. Wey, who also heads the General Outpatients Department at the General Hospital in Minna said that the current heatwave may encourage a variety of diseases if proper prevention measures are not put in place.

The expert predicted that without proper monitoring and introduction of preventive measures, infections will grow and more people will come down with fungal infections.

“The heatwaves cause a lot of skin problems, malaria rashes, encourage other types of infections like measles because Niger state as a meningitic belt may see an increase in Meningitis cases, fungal infections which also thrive more in heat and hot environment can also happen.”

Dr. Wey noted that cases of malaria disease may also increase due to the temperature rise.

He identified women, children and the elderly as being more susceptible to the diseases than the rest of the population.

“Children, elderly, and pregnant women are more susceptible to most of these infections. Most children now present at hospitals with fever and malaria because as you know this is a malaria belt, and Niger State is endemic for that.

“For older people, the older you get, the system starts going down so you are more predisposed to infections such as fungal infections and meningitis.

He therefore encouraged residents to uphold prevention as a key to tackling the spread of diseases.

“We encourage prevention as a key and see health promotion as vital also. By doing this, we try to prevent the spread of diseases through health education, which could involve telling people what to do and when to access healthcare.

To prevent such infections among children, the expert encouraged mothers to adhere to hospital appointments, keep up with vaccination timetables to prevent childhood illnesses, use treated insecticide nets and also use insect repellents whenever possible.

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He also advised people to always see their doctors for counselling.

“There is a difference between a doctor, nurse and pharmacist. A doctor will educate you and prescribe drugs which you will get from the pharmacy. People tend to randomly listen to friends and others who tell them they have done this before and tell them what they use but they are not doctors. So it’s good to see a health practitioner for proper diagnosis and treatment.”

He further encouraged moderation and the use of verified information in the management of diseases.

“Information is key. Some are real and others are not so we should find a way of sieving wrong information from the right one.”

He also stressed the role of adequate water supply, government intervention in regulating food prices as well as the provision of adequate electricity supply to ease the hardship faced by residents.

“It’s challenging but people should try and access portable water supply because of the heat. There are waterborne diseases and dehydration also causes so many issues. Normally for an adult, you take three litres of water a day. Which is about six sachets of pure water so hydration helps.”

He further noted that there exists a strong link between the climate and the health of people.

What Nigerian authorities have said about the heatwave

Last month, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) predicted a prolonged heatwave in many parts of Nigeria.

In February, the agency announced that air temperatures in the north and south hit 41°C 39°C respectively with model projections indicating that temperatures will remain high in the coming days.

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The agency warned that people are at risk of dehydration, chicken Pox disease, Measles, Heat Rash, weakness of the body, heat-related Illnesses, respiratory Issues as well as increased vulnerability to chronic conditions.

Just last week, the agency issued another heat stress warning to Nigerians stating that maximum temperatures hit 40 degrees across the North and 35 degrees across states in the south.

Similarly, on Wednesday, the agency issued yet again an extreme temperature alert, as daytime temperatures hit 44 degrees in the north, and 41 degrees in the north central while states in the south recorded temperatures between 34 and 36 degrees.